|
The 2nd London General Hospital, Chelsea
|
Website and ALL Material © Copyright MIM to MMVIII
- All Rights Reserved
If you enjoy this siteplease consider making a donation.
Site Home
Events
Features
Submissions
Got a Question? Please add it to:
Information
Research your own Family History.
World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar greatThe 2nd London General Hospital, Chelsea
The 2nd London General Hospital, Chelsea was located at St Mark's College at 552 King's Road, Chelsea and the adjoining LCC secondary school, it provided 66 Officer beds and 995 Other Ranks beds. It opened in September 1914, staffed by a Commanding Officer, Registrar, Quartermaster and six Lieutenants of the Royal Army Medical Corps. Consultancy was provided by staff from the London Hospitals, including Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals. St Marks College building had wards on two floors, with female nurses' accommodation on the third floor and the kitchens in the basement. Male medical personnel were housed in a detached building. A section of wall was removed between the college and the school to link the two parts of the hospital.
The school building was converted into wards for surgical cases, the smaller rooms became wards for serious cases or officers with 4 or 5 beds in each. The operating theatre was also installed with in the school.
To allow direct access for patients brought in on ambulance trains, a section of wall was demolished to make an entrance onto the platform at Chelsea station.
Two hundred additional beds of the 2nd London General Hospital were established at St Thomas' Hospital and a further 40 at the Great Northern Hospital in Holloway, use of a private motor car was donated by a local lady to ease the problem of medical staff travelling between the hospitals.
The first patients troops who had been injured during training in England, but by the end of September 1914, men were arriving from from the Western front. The patients mostly arrived in a terrible condition, their clothes stiff with mud and blood from wounds, which were often septic. The wounds were mainly caused by shrapnel to the upper extremities.
By January of 1915 the Hospital had received 22 patients who had been blinded and The War Office decided that hospitals should specialize in their treatment of the wounded and in future all patients with eye injuries would be sent to the 2nd London General Hospital or to the 3rd London General, if no beds were available at the 2nd. Staff from St Dunstan's Hostel for Blinded Soldiers and Sailors, visited daily to help the newly blind to cope with the depression that inevitably accompanied the first moments of a lifetime of blindness.
In May 1915 all Territorial General Hospitals were required to establish Neurological Sections, for the treatment of patients with shell shock or neurasthenia.
The 2nd London General Hospital closed in 1919 and the buildings were put back to their orignial use.
Looking for help with Family History Research? Please read our Family History FAQ's
Thanks to everyone who attended our event
We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates, add a comment or ask a question.
If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page.
Dec 2011
Please note we currently have a large backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site.
List of those who served at the 2nd London General Hospital, Chelsea during The Great War
List of those who were treated at the 2nd London General Hospital, Chelsea during The Great War
Can you help us to add to our records?
The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them
Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?
If so please let us know.
Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.
Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.
Celebrate your own Family History
Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.
Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.
Links
Website and ALL Material © Copyright MIM to MMVIII
- All Rights Reserved